Manufacturing processes for solar battery panels and liquid crystal substrate involve plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (CVD), plasma etching and various other processes for forming film on substrate (workpieces) and etching substrate (see Patent Reference 1 for example). In these processing lines, film-forming and other processes are performed while workpieces (substrate) are transported through processing chambers. These processes have been completely automated, and there is a strong demand to reduce the take time of each processing line, in order to improve mass-production efficiency.
In systems for processing workpieces (substrate) using linear transport, load lock chambers are provided in front and back of the processing chambers for film-forming and other processes, and after workpieces have been loaded into the loading side load lock chamber and blocked by the processing chamber, they are loaded into the processing chamber by vacuum pumping, and once the workpieces have been unloaded from the processing chamber into the unloading side load lock chamber, they unloaded from the load lock chamber by air release and blocked by the next processing chamber. That is, work pieces (substrate) are processed while transported from one side to the other side of a processor.
Patent Reference 1: Unexamined Patent Publication 2002-270880
Patent Reference 2: Unexamined Patent Publication 2000-208587